Mass Effect Extrication
by eculiny
Summary: A story of two Asari lovers trying to re-unite after the reaper invasion of Thessia
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Sophira T'Stali

On board the shuttle, Sophira T'Stali sat restless on her flight to Thessia, her home world. She had cut her 3 month trip to Illium short after learning of the reaper attacks across the galaxy, horrified by the destruction on Earth and Palaven, to return to her wife Kaylari. She knew their world would not stay free of the reapers for long and wanted to make the most of it before they got there. Business was booming on Illium too, she thought. In the one month i was there, i had made 6 months worth of profits. But never mind, life is too precious to be greedy, and what we have already is more than enough. I wonder where Kaylari is stationed, i cant wait to see her again, to hold her in my arms...

"This is your captain speaking, we have reached the Athena Mass Relay and should touch down on Thessia in approximately 1 hour. Entering the relay in 10... 9... 8...".

"Oh great, yet another one of these things", Sophira moaned to the Asari next to her, "there's something about them that gives me a bad feeling, you know? They look so ominous and threatening". She watched the giant reley grow bigger as they approached it, and when they got close, the rings began to spin faster. Then suddenly the shuttle was enveloped in the mass effect field, and her attention was drawn to the beautiful aurora glowing bright blue against the darkness of empty space.

"This is the only thing that gets me through it" replied the Asari. After a sharp jolt, they were in the Parnitha System. The shuttle could hold up to 20 passengers along with the 2 crew members, and it was packed. Most of the people were asari, but there was also a female human and a male turian. As a merchant, Sophira could see the looks of hidden anguish on their faces as they whispered to each other. With the human and turian home worlds devastated by relentless reaper invasions, she guessed they were wanting to avoid the war by staying on the 'Crown Jewel of the Galaxy'.  
"Are you two okay?" she asked them softly.

The human could no longer hold in her emotions as she buried her face in her partners neck. The turian gently wrapped his arms around her, doing his best to stay strong for her. "We'll be fine thanks, it's your people we're worried about" he said, his voice deep, almost smooth.  
Confused, Sophira asked "what do you mean?".

"We lived together on the Citadel and, after seeing the vids of whats happened to our worlds, our fears turned to your world. We're C-SEC officers, so the Cerberus attack delayed our plans to come out here, but. We just don't want to see Thessia share the same fate". He spoke with the cool confidence only a turian could manage in times like these.

His partner lifted her head, blinded by tears and she cried "We just wont let that happen. We wont!" Sophira watched, like everyone else, as the tears fell down from the humans truthful eyes. Ashamed she thought, how could i be so judgmental These are such good people, a rarity these days, and i suspected them cowards. By the Goddess, i am so stupid!

Her eyes never left the woman's such a rich and deep blue, glistening with the layer of tears, and after a long moment she said "I... I don't know what to say. Your actions are humbling".

The woman rested her head on her partners arm, and closed her eyes. The man in turn leaned his head against hers and rubbed her shoulder. Before he too closed his eyes, he gave a weak, yet reassuring, smile to me. Feeling eyes on her, Sophira looked around the shuttle to find a justicar watching her. Suddenly nervous, she quickly looks away and decides to call Kaylari.

Pulling out her head piece, wriggling around in the seat trying to get it out of her unnecessarily tight pants, felt so awkward knowing the justicar was keeping an eye on her. A couple of taps on her omni-tool set up the call and the ring tone started in the head piece. "Hey Soph!" said an excited Kaylari

"Hi babe! how are you?" Sophira replied, forgetting all about the justicar.

"Im great, survived the trip through the relays did you?" Kaylari teased.

"Yeah we just got through the last one, thank the Goddess. We're in the Parnitha System now, about 50 minutes away from the space port".  
"Oh that's great Soph, i cant wait until you get home. Hey you'll never guess where im stationed. At the Temple of Athame! Top priority security, Commander Shepard is on his way here!".

"Wow! You'll get to meet Shepard? By the Goddess you are lucky, I've been following his journey on Battlespace". Sophira exclaimed enviously, looking out the windows as if to see the Normandy on its way to Thessia.

"Well, i should be getting back to duty, the scientists are getting annoyed at me. Call me back before you land OK Soph, love you". The happiness in Kaylari's voice made Sophira smile.

"I love you too babe. Look after yourself Kay, and... if he's not too busy, could you get Shepard's autograph?" trying her best to ease in the question.  
"Haha, i'll see what i can do. Talk to you soon"

"See ya!". Sophira disconnected and took her head piece off, making the mistake of putting it back in her pocket. Glowing from the anticipation of returning home and a possible autograph from Commander Shepard, she looks back out into space, reapers now being the last thing on her mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Kaylari T'Sara

Walking back into the Temple of Athame, a huge grin still on her face, Kaylari T'Sara admired the massive statue of the old Goddess Athame. She still kept to the Athame Doctrine and felt honored to be literally serving under the Goddess. She found the 2 scientists tapping away at their omni-tools until she reached them, apparently oblivious to anything outside of a 3 meter radius around them.

"Sorry about that, my partners on her way back to Thessia. Is everything ready for Commander Shepard?" Kaylari asked, wondering what Shepard wanted from the prothean artifact.

The younger of the scientists, a matron asari named Amira T'Gene replied, speaking nervously "looks like it. I sure hope this helps Shepard, I've been studying it for almost 150 years and still cant understand a large portion of it".

"well you must have found something important enough if Shepard is coming to collect it himself. I hope this goes well" Kaylari exclaimed nervously.  
"We all do" agreed Amira. If something went wrong, the galaxy was at stake. That is why an elite asari commando team was set to guard the area, though it was a small one so as not to attract too much attention.

"i'll let you continue your preparations and i'll go back to mine" Kaylari exclaimed. After nodding and smiling friendly at the scientists, she walked around the temple, examining the items showcased. She saw Athame's famed sword and shield, a couple of sculptures of the Goddess and various scriptures and paintings containing information. Looking at the way Athame was depicted, Kaylari almost thought their own Goddess wasn't an asari, but the large statue in the center reassured her.

A voice came through her radio, sounding very annoyed. "Well then, would you care to explain why we cant just seal off this entire area to stop anyone from getting anywhere near the temple?". It was Alia T'Kiri, in the middle of a heated argument with her twin, Molara.

"Because there are only three of us and we would be stretched out far too thin to guard such a large area. How do you not understand that?!" Molara yelled back, this argument had clearly been going on for a while.

Before Alia got a chance to give a reply, Kaylari cut in. "everything okay here" she said firmly, barely believing the twins could be fighting right now.  
"Oh, yes Commander. Sorry" the girls said in unison. If they weren't such good soldiers Kaylari would have never selected them for her team. The twins where only 150 years old, yet they had excelled extremely well from a young age in combat and biotics, doing better than asari combatants who were by far their superiors which allowed them to quickly become commando's. A similar story to Kaylari's own, although she is 299, as her wife.

Thinking of her own sister, Kaylari said, "look, i know sisters will always argue with each other i get that. But you cant do that here and now, i need you both ready for anything that might come our way".

"we know, i guess it's all this waiting. We're just so used to being thrown straight into battles, eliminating targets with speed. But we're not doing anything right now, nor have we for the past hours". This time it was just Alia who gave their reason.

"i know, but Shepard is expected to arrive within a couple of hours so please, can you try to stay focused for the remainder of that time?"

"sure Commander, we'll do our best" the twins said together again. Kaylari walked over to the kinetic barrier covering the entrance to the temple and peered out. Next to the wall on her left, she saw Molara standing guard and received an apologetic smile. Alia was positioned on top of the entrance, and Kaylari could see her legs swinging back and forth as they dangled off the edge.

Looking out to the horizon, she could see Thessia. The beautiful curved architecture that had become so popular even with the other species, was used on every building, somehow making each and every one of them stand out. It was an amazing feat the asari had accomplished combining practicality with gorgeous aesthetics.

The sun was shining in the sky, the light covering the city and straight through the door to the temple, although inside was eerily dark. The light from outside was a nice change from being in the temple. After enjoying her moment, Kaylari headed back into the temple and took a seat on one of the benches near the entrance, the scientists in her view.

A while later, she received a call. Happy for the distraction, she answered, "hey Soph"

"hey Kay! We're just outside the Thessia atmosphere, has Shepard been there yet" her partner inquired.

"no not yet, shouldn't be too far away though" she said with a 'you're so predictable' tone. Kaylari saw Amira calling her over. "hey can you hold on a moment Soph? One of the scientists want me"

"yup no problem" Sophira replied.

Kaylari ran over to Amira and asked "you okay?"

The scientist looked like she had seen a ghost "The reapers are in the Parnitha system and are heading here fast!" she blurted as quick as she could.  
After a short pause Kaylari whispered "by the Goddess... any news of Shepard?"

"no, we've been trying to reach the Normandy but they must have their comms shut off"

"Kay, Kaylari... KAY!" Hearing Sophira yelling at her through the head piece got rid of the shock. "Kay" She sounded terrified, "Kay, i can... I can see a reaper!"


End file.
